Season 1
27 episodes · Oct 21, 2010
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S1E1Jonathan Alter
Oct 21, 2010Longtime Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter joins us to discuss the latest in politics, the midterm elections and The Promise: President Obama, Year One, his new book about the beginning of Obama's presidency.
S1E2P.J. O'Rourke
Oct 28, 2010P. J. O'Rourke was a political satirist when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were still in short pants - and he was angry at the establishment when Sarah Palin was still reading sports scores on the local news.
S1E3Amanda Hesser
Nov 4, 2010Star food writer Amanda Hesser is a prolific food writer for The NY Times, former food editor of The NY Times Magazine, co-creator of the recipe lover's blog food52 and the author of the new, 1000-recipe The Essential NY Times Cookbook.
S1E4Jim Leach
Nov 11, 2010Jim Leach became head of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2009, after 30 years in Congress. A Republican, Leach often strayed from the party line and advocates civility - attitudes he has vowed to bring to his NEH job.
S1E5Howard Dean
Nov 18, 2010The midterms are behind us and a new political landscape is taking shape. Howard Dean, former Vermont governor, 2004 contender for the Democratic presidential nomination and former DNC chair, joins us to discuss what's ahead.
S1E6Sam Tanenhaus
Dec 2, 2010Sam Tanenhaus is editor of The New York Times Book Review, and his biography of Whittaker Chambers was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. His latest book is The Death Conservatism.
S1E7Ian Frazier
Dec 9, 2010Frazier's varied mix of humorous essays, meticulously reported books of non-fiction, and wide-ranging magazine articles, tackle the history of the Great Plains, a humorous look at the life of Don Johnson and a trip through Siberia.
S1E8Bill Bradley
Dec 16, 2010Billy Bradley has been a three-term US Senator, a candidate for the 2000 Democratic nomination, an NBA hall of famer, a Rhodes Scholar, the author of six books, the host of a radio show and a partner in a New York investment bank.
S1E9Michael Pollan
Dec 23, 2010Author and activist Michael Pollan's work mixes journalism, environmentalism, animal rights, anthropology, and foodiness. He's become an educator, agitator, guide for the not-so-simple act of buying and consuming food.
S1E10Ed Rendell
Jan 13, 2011PA Governor Ed Rendell leaves public life this month after 8 years as Governor, a stint as the DNC's head and many years in public office before that. He talks about wussiness in America, infrastructure problems and learning to drive again.
S1E11Douglas Brinkley
Jan 20, 2011Douglas Brinkley's books explore U.S. history from old times to new, from one end of the country to the other, through profiles of events and people and institutions. His latest book is The Quiet World: Saving Alaska's Wilderness Kingdom.
S1E12Lawrence Wright
Jan 27, 2011Lawrence Wright's most recent book, The Looming Tower, won a Pulitzer and set the highest possible bar for reporting on our complicated post-9/11 world. His next big project - for The New Yorker and a book - examines Scientology.
S1E13Chely Wright
Feb 3, 2011Singer-songwriter Chely Wright has been named Best New Female Vocalist and one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People. She's also author of a memoir, the first openly gay country music star and founder of The LIKE ME Organization.
S1E14Matthew Dowd
Feb 17, 2011Matthew Dowd has worked at the heart of American politics for more than 25 years, shaping strategies and campaigns for both Democrats and Republicans. It's widely reported that his latest advice is for President Barack Obama.
S1E15John Mackey
Feb 24, 2011John Mackey is co-founder & CEO of Whole Foods Market, the largest U.S. natural foods grocer and a growing global presence, with more than 300 stores in North America and the U.K. Whole Foods marks it's 30th anniversary this year.
S1E16Lawrence Lessig
Mar 10, 2011Lawrence Lessig is a celebrated academic, an acclaimed author, and an energetic activist whose great cause is rights and freedoms in the digital sphere. He's also increasingly an advocate for accountability in institutions.
S1E17Bill Paxton
Mar 17, 2011Bill Paxton is a gifted actor whose credits include One False Move, Weird Science and Apollo 13, but legions of wannabe sister wives know him as polygamist Bill Henrickson on HBO's Big Love, soon ending a marvelous five-year run.
S1E18Garrison Keillor
Mar 24, 2011Garrison Keillor is an author, humorist, storyteller and icon of public broadcasting whose weekly radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, has been a part of our lives, in one form or another, since 1974.
S1E19Wyatt Cenac
Apr 7, 2011Wyatt Cenac's reports for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart have introduced his work to a wide audience. But his work reaches far beyond his role as a fake news writer and correspondent.
S1E20Diane Wood
Apr 14, 2011Diane Wood is a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judge respected across the political spectrum as an intellectual heavyweight. Twice, she's made Obama's short list for the Supreme Court. Maybe the third time will be the charm.
S1E21Calvin Trillin
Apr 21, 2011Calvin Trillin has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1963, and over those many years he's written enough pieces about Texas food and politics and life in general to fill an anthology. Trillin on Texas is in bookstores now.
- S1E22
Gail Collins
Apr 28, 2011Gail Collins is a funny and fearless twice-weekly columnist for The New York Times, the first woman ever to serve as the paper's editorial page editor and the author of several books. Her new book will be about, yes, Texas.
- S1E23
Holland Taylor
May 5, 2011Holland Taylor is an award-winning actress, acclaimed for her work on stage, in film and on television, whose one-woman play about the life of former Texas governor Ann Richards will be soon be coming to a theater near you.
- S1E24
Wendy Kopp
May 12, 2011Wendy Kopp is founder and CEO of Teach for America, which has recruited the best and brightest college students to become teachers where they're needed most - in urban and rural public schools - for more than two decades.
- S1E25
Harry Shearer
May 19, 2011Harry Shearer is an Emmy and Grammy-nominated actor and writer whose credits include Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and The Simpsons. The Big Uneasy, his documentary about New Orleans before and after Katrina, has just been released.
- S1E26
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
May 26, 2011Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a celebrated advocate and activist on behalf of the environment, conservation and responsible stewardship of the planet through two watchdog groups dedicated to protecting water in New York and worldwide.
- S1E27
Julian Bond
Jun 2, 2011Julian Bond is an activist, academic, author and true icon of the civil rights movement. He helped found the SNCC and has led both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the NACCP. Bond also served 10 terms in Georgia's legislature.